*OFFICIAL* Alienware 13 R3 Owner's Lounge

That's quite worrying. They're going to give me a little credit for the wear issue, as I didn't want to wait for the battery to be replaced.

 

My initial impressions:

• It is definitely THIN and fairly portable (size wize) - I was able to fit the AW13 in all my current backpacks I use when travelling. Have a few more bags to try though before I declare victory.
• The hefty weight will take it's toll if I travel with it a lot (6.5 pounds with charger!)
• Don't know why the standard DELL slim PSU with rubber strap wasn't used in this model. This feels like a generic chinese brick.
• OLED screen is beaufitul - but I'll be the first here to say that compared to my Surface Book, it isn't a revelatory experience per-se. Colors are more saturated, and obviously no BLB. The 16:9 aspect ratio will be cramped for any productivity work. I haven't done enough gaming to compare how input lag/pixel response time change the game over the Surface Book though. The SBook has like 40-50ms, so 1 MS should be pretty dramatic! I'm not complaining though - in a dark room, watching a movie, is incredible on OLED.
• Impressive quality - no flex - feels built like a tank
• TEMPS after 1 hour of games are not an issue - no need to run HWInfo anymore (already shared my temps)
• Fans louder than hoped by about 3 dB - hoping after a burn in this calms down some. Otherwise, anyone have any tools for custom fan curves on Dell laptops?
• Battery wear level is 0%
• I tried plugging into external display via mDP - no issues as others described here with tearing/stuttering
• When playing a game, speakers do tend to blend out fan noise to a degree
• Hinge forward design helps cut fan noise "to the user" by about 2-3dB. I bet if you put a piece of sound absorbant foam behind the unit, it would cut acoustics "to the user" as well.

More performance tests to come - will keep trying it out over the next few days. The fan noise is the number one drawback for me. But I'm fairly senstive to it - my desktop sits at 39 dB under load, which is barely audible above background. My Surface book hits around 41.5 under load (obviously a completely different class of power). If the AW could stay at 45-46 dB max, I would give it 100% thumbs up.

 

Well this is a bit worrying! Surely can't be right?

Is this 95% left or 95% used? Jesus.

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Just received a response from Alienware's tech support about my battery issue :

"
We hope you are doing well.


I had not received any feedback like that so far on our computers, but it is a very alarming development. I will make sure to forward this feedback through the proper channels.

Thank you for your feedback.

By the way, the Customer Care Phone # is: 1-800-624-9897 "

 

Left. Mine is down to 73% in 2 weeks ...

 

Yeh that's 5% wear.

 

Cheers. Still crap though.

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Thanks! Still crap though!

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Are you sure wear must be read like you're saying? I thought it would be the higher the worst, if it is like you say why is my wear level growing (from 5 to 10)?

Mine went from 5% to more than 10% in less than a week.

 

Yeh, that's getting worse.

 

So the guy that had 73 didn't have 73 left, but 17 left, is that right?

 

HWinfo on all my previous and current 1060-based 13" gaming laptops, exhibited similar battery wear anomalies. But I wasn't looking for it. I just happened to see it. My advise to you guys obsessing over this ridiculous number.... move on. A lot of you try so bloody hard and go out of your way to find things wrong and obsess over, it really makes some of us avoid these forums. Aside from the fact, no one knows how accurate HWiNFO's battery wear is, no one is or should be buying this unit for battery life/longevity. Period. End of story. If you losing sleep over battery wear... for crying out loud.... you are not the target audience for this laptop.

Apologies if this rubs some of you the wrong way. It is just baffling to me how hard some of you go out of your way to find something wrong here... then seemingly attempt to pass it off as an epidemic. When the reality is, most of us here, don't give a rats toilet about the battery. Nor care that your CPU 0 is .45 degrees hotter than your CPU 1.

You know what I'm going to do when I receive my AW R13 tomorrow? Avoid this particular forum like the plague.

Love all of you.

 

You know what, nobody thinks his battery is going to last hours, but we'd like to be sure that it does at least last its due hours and most of all that it doesn't wear too soon, as we paid for that, and as much as I use the laptop plugged I happen to use it a lot (maybe for short burst but...) unplugged.

 

No, I have 73% left of active capacity in my battery, and every time I use it on the bat.power the cell is degrading drastically. Makes sense ?

It all started with 5% ware-off level out-of-the-box ...

 

Love you back, but my battery's power has decreased by 17% and been dropping steadily ..
Besides, Tech Support is now concerned about that too:

" ... I had not received any feedback like that so far on our computers, but it is a very alarming development. I will make sure to forward this feedback through the proper channels.
Thank you for your feedback. By the way, the Customer Care Phone # is: 1-800-624-9897 "

 

@Everyone with HWinfo giving battery wear

Has anyone actully had diminishing battery run times?

I suspect the sensors are wrong, that either it isn't being read properly at all, or it is the battery not charging all the way.

It could be that the battery is not charging to 100% but HWinfo is reading this as diminished capacity.

 

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, when you first checked did that number read 5 or 95?

 

Hey

Yes, it becomes apparent now in live utilization. One thing to point out, the info on the battery is not just limited to HWinfo; Aleinware's F12 service/diagnostic utility indicates the same ..

 

Not at all. It read as " 5 ". About 20 pages back I posted along with a pic ..

 

I for one would like to know about this kind of issues. I am also, like many others, interested in working on battery. (Personally, this is a development system for me. No games.)
People can post their problems and each will decide for himself if it is important or not.

About battery wear: My battery had 2% out of the box. After using it for a while (on battery usually), it is now 0% wear. Healthy battery use it simple let it discharge during use and charge when needed. Working plugged in all the time with battery at 100% is the worst you can do. Of course, if you are at 70% after a month, contact Dell. :/

 

@ Digital1337: That is where HWiNFO gets that number from, the BIOS. They should always be the same. What has always been contested, is the validity of the BIOS info.

 

There really is no reason a LiPo battery could wear this fast.

I still think it is probably just not charging to 100%. Which is a problem all in itself. Especially if it is tricking different software.

Try unplugging the battery, do a hard reset of motherboard (hold power button for 10 seconds with AC and battery unplugged) then measure the wear level.

 

And you my friend, are not the intended audience for this (or similar) laptops.

 

Thanks. Will report back.

 

While I see your point, I somewhat disagree.
If I buy an M3 with 450+HP with a price tag of over $65k and on its delivery it turns out that headlights are not operating as intended, should I be concerned ? Well, clearly - targeted audience are those that require that engine power, why would they care about some glitchy headlights ...

I think I pretty much made my point.

 

To use your analogy in a more proper comparison here; It is akin to someone purchasing an M3 and then complaining (or at least being disappointed with) about gas mileage.

 

Be that as it may, many users were interested in battery rundown times. It isn't up to you to censor others based on what you deem noteworthy. You are of course, welcome to ignore the battery discussion, as I ignore the gaming discussions which is irrelevant for me.

 

It is fully reasonable if the advertised mileage is significantly off the reality. A battery that degrades unreasonably is a problem.

 

Italia you make a fair point, but when you spend a lot of money on a system it should be damn near perfect.

This is actually my first personal laptop, I've only ever built my own rigs before and so I've never encountered such issues. This is why I may be a bit obsessive.

 

I am sorry, but that wasn't a proper relation.
If someone's complaining about the mileage while it remains within the manufacturing stats is a one thing. [exmpl MPG: 17 / 26 ]
And if the engine suddenly drops it down to 10/15 ...
Anyhow, we just see it differently.

 

Also on that note - I will mainly use my laptop at home, is it better not to leave it on charge all the time whilst in use? Should I let it drain and then charge it again?

 

and @ everyone else

More to the point; as of now, the wear level it is a perceived flaw, and should be extensively tested.

Best case scenario: it is a software, or bios glitch

OK/acceptable/mid case: there is some wear in to the battery and will top off at some % wear and normalize. (but 17% seems slightly too much for this, I would expect 10% the most)

Bad case: it is wearing to fast because of a defect in manufacturing; 5% wear in like 2 or 3 weeks translates to 50% wear in about 8 months... Get like 1 hour battery in a year. Completely unacceptable. But AW/Dell should have you covered for new batteries under standard 1 year warranty

Worst case: It is getting way too hot (the battery) which is wearing its chemical composition; there is risk of fire and explosion...

 

What does powercfg -batteryreport say regarding battery? Mine showed 76K mah, with 74k being the max charge level. It indicated it had no charge cycles, and the wear was 0%.

 

Hi, I had purchased an Alienware 13 Oled early December and still have not received it. My order is said to have been on hold due to a stock shortage. (Part unknown)
Has any one received their order this week?
Also was anyone able to obtain any form of "Goodwill gesture" for the delay?
To add, I don't think I have been charged as I don't see any activity from Dell on my bank statement,could my money be on 'hold'?

Thank you.
Mr E.Khan

 

Dell (at least in the US) will not charge you until they ship it.

The shortage is for OLED screens

 

I really hope this doesn't happen to you. I ordered Nov.25.

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My EDD got bumped from the 26/12/2016 to 03/02/2017

 

To those with battery problems. Are you using it on ac all the time? Or do you charge it up then use it "as a laptop" with it unplugged? My battery came with 2% and because I use my laptop like the purpose of it was intended for. The battery fixed itself to 0% now.
Try it a few times. It kinda contradicts itself that your moaning that the level wears are dropping. But not once have no need to run it on the battery. If course it's not my business how you use it and yes you want it perfect. But if your not willing to try proper means to see if it fixes it self by giving it several power downs me recharges and see how things go. Then you got no right to moan until you've tried. This is common in laptop batteries


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Who cares what YOU think Dell's target consumer profile is......if somethings not as described then there are consumer laws that protect buyers.
My laptop came with 5% wear out of the box. I've cyled the battery twice but its still showing 5% wear via HWInfo and CPUID.
Battery life for me was an important consideration for me along with a numver of other features. This is a personal choice.
If it doesn't correct itself in the next week or so I'l be complaining to Dell and see how I get on. But I'm certainly not going to just accept it because as you put it "I'm not the intended audience". Absolute apathetic bull....

 

To piggy back, doing a full discharge (until it shuts itself off) - then charging to 100% (without turning it on) can recalibrate most batteries. I'd suggest doing this.

 

Hi,

Ordered mine on Dec 8th,
Delivery was originally scheduled for the 27th and will be finally delivered tomorrow.

Could someone do a step by step guide on how to do undervolting using xtu ?

I'm a complete newbie on this and it can surely help others as well.

Thanks.

 

None of that changes the fact you indeed are not the target audience for this product. There are many other consumer laptops available with an emphasis on battery life. This is not one of them. Being as battery life evidently was a personal choice and need for you; you choose wrongly. It happens.

 

Take a look at this video

 

Nice vid! Great guide.

This is a good also...

https://www.thinkscopes.com/2015/12/24/skylake-overclocking-and-undervolting-guide/

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I really strongly caution against blanket undervolting...most folks out there DO NOT understand things like "safe temperatures". Original AW15/17's (R3/R4) - had an issue where the shutdowns were being caused by an improper Tjunction temp being established in the BIOS as well as runaway limits on CPUs in some cases. They were generally not shutting down due to "unsafe temperatures". It's an uneducated thing to say that a CPU "running in the 90s is too hot". That is patently false information.

The ONLY reason I can see why you would undervolt would be to potentially lower fan noise. There might also be a minor increase in battery life.

 

Mine was hitting high 90's under a light load, fans very extremely loud trying to cope.
A stable undervolt of now 0.150 has brought my temps down to 76 at highest core and fan noise is substantially better.

For such a simple process this truly does work wonders.



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I'm glad it "worked" for you. And I would agree taht temps in the 90s under light load isn't good. Did you get throttling in games? In your case, I would return/exchange.

We had a "rookie" user ask about undervolting before it even arrived - and he admitted he's never done it before. It's not good to simply point him to a guide. The better advice is to say, try it out - here is normal behavior and performance you should expect.

MY AW13 maxes out under Battlefield 1 at around 82C at the package level - and the GPU is 78C. This is stock.

MY AW13 is also silent for every light processing task.

 

It's also good to hear that fan noise is substantially improved with undervolt - this is the only reason i'd consider doing that with mine.

It's just baffling your CPU is hitting 90s under light load (waht is light load to you?). What was your CPU at during idle? My fans are not turning on with normal web/office work except for an occasional peak in CPU. To me, your situation sounds like something else is going on.

 

Yeah worked a treat. Not going to return this unit.
I can see the issue with forums like these and new members.
It has the potential to cause a lot of damage, but I think 99.9% of us here have enough common sense to carry out the tasks we discuss...be it undervolting/overclocking to stripping and repasting.

These are good temps at stock. After a little tinker mine is now whisper quiet while browsing, downloading and watching 1440p YouTube.

Gaming the fans kick in but nowhere near the level they were at stock.

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